Our Annual Harvest Festival is coming up and brainstorming has begun for fun festivities for guests to participate in. Apple Bobbing... check. Live Music....check. Awesome Pie Contest...check. Pumpkin Painting...check. When the idea of making a 'head in the hole' project came up I was intimidated by the amount of time it would take. However, I volunteered to see the project through and boy was it crazy....and FUN!

We started by buying a couple pieces of thick plywood... not the chip board stuff.

I opted for the cheapest craft acrylic paint I could because I wasn't sure the quantity I would end up needing and I figured we could just spray a nice protective finish over the end product to make it weather friendly.

Step 1: Prime your boards

Find the smoothest side that you''ll paint on and begin priming with the grain of the wood. Allow to dry overnight...I was praying for rain and birds to stay away during this step.

Step 2: Layout your design on the boards

Be sure to consider the knots in your plywood when laying out your design. If you're trying to cut a circle or a line through one, the knot will likely fall out and create a weird hole in your design.

Step 3: Set out your paints and start laying out big blocks of color. I used a sponge brush for blocking in larger areas and watered down some acrylic paint to at least get a base for later shading.

Step 4: go crazy laying in your color and getting all artsy. Allow to dry before handling and cutting. We chose to cut holes after painting for ease of the project, it actually worked out better than I though, with little to no touchups.

Step 5: This is where Todd came in (other than procuring wood and paint). He cut the top perimeter with a circular saw and the holes were cut with a Sawzall. We then filed the holes down with a rasp so no one got splinters! Todd and Matt then went to work fabricating a stand onsite. The two boards were seamed together with a 2x4. and the stand consisted of 2x4s mitered and angled from the top of the plywood to the ground where they both connected to the heavy 2x 8 laying on the grass for stability. Screws were drilled through the front of the project and I touched them up with some paint, but they were pretty unnoticeable.

Truthfully we never got to spray the finished product with a sealer, but there are plans in the works for this step. We placed a couple hay bales behind the photo board for short people like myself and DONE...

Step 6: Sit back with a ridiculous grin that people are actually using your project for photos after countless hours of wondering if it will all be worth it...